If there’s one thing that’s clear about E.P.A. administrator Scott Pruitt, it’s that the man literally has no shame. Any other government official, facing such a deluge of stories about his abuse of taxpayer money and government resources, would resign out of sheer embarrassment. But Pruitt, immune to it all and with the support of the president, hangs on. Over the last few weeks, we’ve learned that in addition to his $50-per-night housing deal with an energy lobbyist, his high-priced travel habits, his illegal $43,000 phone booth, his five-star meals with accused sex offenders, his shopping spree for fancy pens, and his predilection for reassigning or demoting people who questioned his spending habits, Pruitt tasked one staffer with finding his wife a job and another with sourcing him a discounted Trump Hotel mattress. And today’s news is, somehow, more mortifying.

According to a new report from The New York Times, senior staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency “frequently felt pressured” by Pruitt to “help in personal matters and obtain special favors for his family,” with one noting that the former Oklahoma attorney general “had a clear sense of entitlement” about the perks he should be afforded as a Cabinet member. Those perks included getting his daughter an internship in the White House:

At least three E.P.A. staff members were dispatched to help Ms. Pruitt obtain a summer internship at the White House, the current and former staff members said.

Kevin Chmielewski, who was Mr. Pruitt’s deputy chief of staff for operations until February, recalled a conversation last year when Mr. Pruitt instructed him and other top aides to “see what you can do” about getting the internship, a highly competitive and prized post in Washington. Ms. Pruitt was selected as an intern last summer.

Tickets to sporting events and face time with players beforehand:

Mr. Pruitt also had his staff include various sporting events in his schedule, which involved bringing his considerable E.P.A. security detail with him, the current and former aides said.

Among the sporting events aides helped arrange for Mr. Pruitt to attend were two Washington Nationals baseball games, including one on July 5, when they negotiated access for Mr. Pruitt to the team’s batting practice before a scheduled matchup with the New York Mets, according to e-mails obtained by the Sierra Club..

“Thanks for taking my call this morning! If we could arrange for Administrator Pruitt to come to batting practice before July 5ths game, that would be wonderful!” Madeline Morris, then an E.P.A. aide, wrote in an e-mail to the Nationals’ vice president for community engagement, Gregory McCarthy.

. . . and, in general, the lifestyle of a person whose net worth is many multiples of his. According to aides who spoke to the Times, Pruitt “told them that he expected a certain standard of living akin to wealthier Trump Cabinet members” and gave the impression he “saw them as foot soldiers in achieving that lifestyle.” The problem, one added, is that “he is not a billionaire. But he sincerely thinks he is.”

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Trump goes ahead and hits China with fresh tariffs

Because he apparently still believes trade wars are “good” and “easy to win,” on Friday, Donald Trump announced tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese imports, with the first $34 billion going into effect July 6. And we’ll give you two guesses for how Beijing responded but you’ll probably get it in one.

“We will immediately introduce taxation measures of the same scale and with the same intensity,” the country’s Commerce Ministry said in a statement. “All of the economic and trade achievements previously negotiated by the two parties will also be invalid.” While China didn’t specify which goods it would target, the list is expected to include manufactured goods and agricultural products, hitting Trump where it hurts (i.e. states that voted for him). “It’s foolish on the part of the Trump team,” Wang Huiyao, director of the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization and an adviser to China’s cabinet, told Bloomberg. “He needs China’s collaboration on North Korea and he gives the impression that he’s burning the bridge after crossing the river.”

Strangely, the administration still seems to believe that it not only has nothing to lose but that other countries won’t hit back in response. After announcing that in addition to the tariffs, the U.S. will impose investment restrictions on China within the next two weeks, U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer told Fox Business, “Our hope is that it doesn’t lead to a rash reaction from China. We hope that this leads to further negotiations and we hope it leads to China changing its policies, at least with respect to us, and opening up their market.”

Meanwhile, the fact that the punitive measures will hurt Americans doesn’t appear to have sunk into Trump’s head. “Imposing tariffs places the cost of China’s unfair trade practices squarely on the shoulders of American consumers, manufacturers, farmers, and ranchers. This is not the right approach,” said Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, in a statement.

But wait, there’s more!

Amazingly, Trump is apparently serious about the idea of hitting foreign cars with 25 percent tariffs, which he now wants to get done before the midterm elections, believing it will play well with his base. “Trump sees the auto tariffs as part of his midterm strategy, a way to position Republicans and the White House as pro-worker,” a senior administration official told Politico. “He views it as part of the broader story about to helping to revitalize the American-based economy.”

One problem with the plan, among many, is the fact that like his steel and aluminum tariffs, the tax on foreign cars will ultimately be paid by consumers, who are unlikely to be thrilled about the price hike. Another is that, earth to Trump, foreign car manufacturers actually employ thousands of Americans in their U.S. operations. There’s also the matter of convincing the Commerce Department that foreign vehicles constitute a threat to national security, though Wilbur Ross is presumably happy to sign off on the request, if he can find the time between naps.

The agency has taken the first step by launching an investigation into whether the $228 billion worth of auto and auto part imports in 2017 pose a risk, perhaps by undermining economic well-being. And now, the sources said, Trump is pressing the agency to deliver the results before voters go to the polls in November.

One senior administration official cautioned that Commerce is overburdened by requests from Trump and may not issue the report as quickly as the president wants.

The division within the department that is handling the investigation, the Bureau of Industry and Security, is already stretched to the limit.

Ross had promised the investigation into steel and aluminum would be completed in a little over two months after it was launched on April 20, 2017. However, the final investigation wasn’t completed until Jan. 11, 2018, and only after considerable scrutiny by the Defense Department and other agencies.

If Trump is able to announce the tariffs before the midterms, it’s not clear that they will help the Republicans. “Long term,” said __Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor, and economics at the Center for Automotive Research, the action will likely prove “detrimental,” and “incredibly unpopular once it’s in place and it plays out for a while.”

Kushner has been telling associates he is thrilled about the U.S. winning its joint bid with Canada and Mexico to host the World Cup in 2026—in part because he sees it as a legitimate diplomatic win that he can claim some credit for. “He’s very pumped,” said one person familiar with his thinking. “First time I’ve heard him genuinely happy in over a year.”

It was not a given that the U.S. would win the bid over Morocco, amid the international anti-Trump backlash.

. . . [But] Kushner, White House officials said, was conducting his version of soft power diplomacy behind the scenes—or at the very least he was making some productive phone calls to his friends in the Middle East. Over the past year, he has reached out to the Saudis and the Bahrainis to ask them for their support against Morocco.

“We had given our word to the Americans,” Turki Al Alshikh, head of the Saudi Sports Authority, told Bloomberg TV earlier this month. “We balance issues, and in the end, we go with the interests of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.” It’s the least they could do!